If you're an e-mail user, you may have noticed that you've become very popular. 
But your electronic in-box may not be full of greetings from long-lost friends. 
Instead, it's piled high with commercial messages from people you've never 
heard of, many of whom are asking for your money.

Welcome to the newest form of advertising: unsolicited commercial e-mail.

Commonly known as "junk e-mail," "bulk e-mail," or "spam," unsolicited 
commercial messages are flooding the Internet each day, ending up on desktops 
everywhere. Although some of these messages are from legitimate marketers, 
many are fraudulent solicitations from scam artists who make promises they 
have no intention of keeping.

Reach Out and Touch Millions
Marketers are flocking to Internet e-mail as a cheap and easy way to reach 
millions of consumers with their messages. Typically, an e-mail marketer buys a 
list of e-mail addresses from a list broker, who compiles it by "harvesting" 
addresses from the Internet. If your e-mail address appears in a newsgroup 
posting, on a Web site, in a chat room, or in an online service's membership 
directory, it may find its way onto these lists. The marketer then uses special 
software that can send hundreds of thousands-even millions-of e-mail 
messages to the addresses on the list at the click of a mouse-and at virtually 
no cost to the marketer.

How can you tell if a message you receive is sent out as bulk e-mail? Usually, 
bulk e-mail doesn't contain the recipient's address on the "To" line of the e-mail. 
Instead, the addressee is a made-up name, such as "friend@public.com." Or the 
address on the "To" line is identical to the one on the "From" line.

What To Watch For
Here are some examples of the kinds of solicitations you may find at your in-box. 
If you receive e-mail messages like these, the Federal Trade Commission 
suggests you delete them.

"You are about to make at least $50,000 in less than 90 days!" The e-mail tells 
you to send a small amount of money ($5 to $20) to each of several names on a 
list, then replace one of the names on the list with your own, and forward the 
revised e-mail to thousands of new names using bulk e-mail. This is a classic 
chain letter, sent in a high-tech envelope. The letter may claim that the scheme 
is legal. Don't believe it. These schemes are almost always illegal, and the 
majority of people who participate in them lose their money. Delete the message.

"Are you experiencing credit problems? Regardless of your credit record, you can 
now wipe your credit report clean of bankruptcies, judgments, foreclosures, liens, 
and late payments! AND IT'S 100% LEGAL!" If someone claims they can show 
you how to legally remove accurate negative information from your credit report, 
they're lying. Usually the scammer advises you to dispute all negative information 
on your credit report-which doesn't work-or to set up a new credit identity for 
yourself- which is illegal. Delete the message.

"Eat as much as you want, exercise as little as you want, and lose 5-10 pounds a 
week-GUARANTEED!" Programs or products that promote easy or effortless 
long-term weight loss don't work. Taking off weight, and keeping it off, requires 
exercise and permanent changes in your diet. All the testimonials and guarantees 
in your e-mail are not worth the space they take up on your hard drive. Delete the 
message.

"$5,000 unsecured credit card, 6.95% rate, GUARANTEED APPROVAL regardless 
of your credit history (bankruptcies and foreclosures okay)." E-mail that offers you 
a "major" credit card regardless of your credit history can be hard to resist. The 
offer claims that the card will be issued by an "offshore" bank, and that nobody is 
turned down. It also may offer a "business opportunity" that promises astounding 
earnings. Most of the time, the credit card turns out to be non-existent, the 
"offshore" bank imaginary, and the "business opportunity" a pyramid scheme in 
which most participants will lose money. Delete the message.

Before you respond to commercial e-mail, the FTC suggests that you:

Treat commercial e-mail solicitations the same way you would treat an unsolicited 
telemarketing sales call. Don't believe promises from strangers. 

Greet money-making opportunities that arrive at your in-box with skepticism. Most 
of the time, these are old-fashioned scams delivered via the newest technology.

Don't believe e-mails that say you can make money by sending money to people on a 
list. Chain-letter schemes are illegal-and nearly everyone who participates in them 
loses money.

Don't pay money into a pyramid scheme with the hope of making money by recruiting 
others into the scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal-and big money losers.

Ignore offers to erase accurate negative information from your credit record. There's 
no legal way to do that. Remember, legitimate banks don't issue credit cards without 
first checking your credit.

If you've been the target of a "junk e-mail" scam, contact your Internet service 
provider, your local consumer protection agency, your state Attorney General's 
office, or The National Fraud Information Center (NFIC) at 1-800-876-7060. 
NFIC is a project of the National Consumers League.

You also may send your complaint to the FTC. Write to: 

Consumer Response Center 
Federal Trade Commission 
Washington, DC 20580.

Although the Commission cannot resolve individual disputes, the information you provide 
may indicate a pattern of possible law violations requiring action by the Commission.

For more information
The FTC publishes a series of free brochures on a variety of consumer issues. You can 
request a copy of Best Sellers, a complete list of FTC publications, at: 

Consumer Response Center 
Federal Trade Commission 
Washington, DC 20580 
(202) 326-2222 
TDD: (202) 326-2502